This is a triumphant return to the blogosphere for ol' J-Weezy and a lot has happened. The obvious thing is that IU basketball is sort of good again, but oddly enough, this is not what this post is about.
THIS POST IS ABOUT BOISE STATE. YEAH BUDDY.
Well, not necessarily specifically Boise State. Boise State serves as an example for a larger issue that I have with college football. But I'm still probably going to mention Boise State a lot.
I always hear people talk about how teams like Boise, TCU, Houston, etc. don't deserve a chance at the national championship game. And this year they're probably right. Houston got crushed at home and didn't even win their conference (hey, just like Alabama) and Boise lost at home to a lesser team also. That seems to happen almost every year; when a team like that is poised for a BCS bowl game, they blow it in the latter parts of the season.
But let's imagine that we live in a world where Boise State went undefeated this year. Let's imagine that Boise State worked their magic at the end of the TCU game this year and won 36-35 instead of losing by the same score. Is there any chance in hell the BCS selects Boise State over Alabama for the national championship?
I think not. I think, at best, Boise State is fourth, behind LSU, the aforementioned Alabama, and Oklahoma State. They COULD be ahead of OK State, but obviously this is up for debate.
So Boise State, sitting at 12-0, gets shut out of the national championship game. Again. Why? Because they play in a small conference and they don't get to play fantastic teams like Ole Miss and Tennessee throughout the year. They play a weaker schedule, sure. They crush the SEC Eastern Division champions at the beginning of the year, but we always conveniently forget the fact that Boise State always beats the "big name" team they play at the beginning of the year.
Incidentally, we also usually forget (or ignore) the fact that Boise State, in the last three years, has beaten Oregon, Virginia Tech, and of course Georgia. All of those teams are definitely big name programs. They beat them all.
This is but a small thread in the giant quilt that is the snubbing of small school teams in the national championship picture. These teams -- Boise State, TCU, Utah before their move to the Pac-12, and (to a lesser extent) Houston -- are looked down upon simply because they play in smaller conferences. Last year, Oregon (the national runner-up) had a weaker schedule than both Boise State and TCU. But they play in a big conference, so nobody cares. This is a trend.
So now we go to this year. Two very deserving teams are in the national championship this year in LSU and Alabama. Although I would have preferred Oklahoma State over Alabama, since I frequently had visions featuring the sweet embrace of death during round one of the Battle of Dropped Passes and Missed Field Goals, there is no denying Alabama's worthiness of contending for the national championship, because their defense is unbelievable. I can freely admit this, although I have a distaste for Alabama. Foreshadowing.
But, there is most definitely a debate for Oklahoma State to be in the national championship game too. The computers ranked them higher, and they have a stronger schedule and more wins against top 25 teams than Alabama does (I'm a little bit fuzzy on the details there, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). The biggest claim that Alabama has is that their one loss was to the #1 ranked team in the country by 3 points in overtime, while OK State's loss was to unranked Iowa State in double overtime. A very valid claim.
Another claim that I have seen multiple times from multiple people, that is the driving force behind this post, is the claim that Alabama is more deserving because they beat the crap out of their inferior opponents and that, coupled with barely losing to the best team in the country (at home), makes them the most worthy.
Alabama won their 11 games by an average of 29.7 points per game. Boise State won their 11 games by an average of 27.2 points per game. Oklahoma State won their 11 games by an average of 26.2 points per game. (Oklahoma State's hindrance here is a one point win at then ranked #8 Texas A&M.)
Here is my big problem with this defense that some, not all, Alabama fans are using. This is the same argument that Boise State has, year in and year out. They don't play in the SEC or the Big 12. They play in a much less heralded conference, the MWC, which I'm pretty sure is going to be a future acronym for a Call of Duty game. Modern Warfare Clutch or something.
My point here is not that Boise State is as good as Alabama, because I don't believe that this year's team is better than Alabama. My point is that the Boise States of the world use the argument of beating inferior opponents by a lot, and they are mocked for it. Alabama fans are arguing the same point now. How is that not hypocrisy?
This is not to suggest that Alabama fans are the biggest hypocrites in the world or anything. It just so happens that this year, they're the team who has to defend their team's appearance in the national championship game. And this doesn't even necessarily pertain to fans of Alabama. Just Alabama backers, I guess.
But the fact is that it is still hypocrisy. I, for one, am perfectly okay with the defense of "my team beat the crap out of most of the teams they played" because I think that if you play a weak-ish schedule and you win all of your games by 25+ points or something, then you're probably a very good team. But you can't spend 5 years saying that it doesn't matter how much you win your games by if you still play bad teams, and then turn around and use that as a major point of defense for your team.
We always remember when Boise State loses a game. You remember the TCU loss this year and the Nevada loss last year. I remember victories over Virginia Tech and Georgia. But it goes deeper than Boise State. You remember Hawaii getting crushed by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. I remember Boise State-Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, Utah crushing Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and TCU beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl last year in a game that was, for my money, better than the national championship game. You focus on the one loss they have and decide that they don't deserve a shot, and I focus on when they beat the best team they play all year and then lose a heartbreaker at the end of the year.
These teams have proven that they at least deserve a chance to play in the national championship. These teams HAVE beaten very good teams in big bowl games in the past. Boise State haters are just too wrapped up in making fun of Boise State to notice.
And why? Why do you do this? The only reasonable explanation I have is that you'd be embarrassed if your team lost to one of these teams, so you don't even want to play them. Because you're scared of Boise State. You're scared of the possibility of Boise State beating your team, because you know that it is very possible, so you'd rather just make fun of them all year and pray that they don't go undefeated so you don't have to live in a world where a Boise State national championship is possible.
That's the only explanation I have. And what a sad explanation that is.
The hypocrisy of Boise State haters is hilarious to me. They think their team is good because they beat of the crap out of all of their opponents, even though they don’t beat anyone that’s really that good. But if Boise State goes undefeated and, by some gift of God, plays for the national championship, everybody complains about how they don't play anyone good.
Just stop rooting against Boise State for lame reasons. I get that there are teams that some people just don't like. I have no real reason to dislike the Chicago Bears, but I hope they lose every single game. I understand that there are people like this with regards to Boise State. But I don't say that I hate the Bears because their defense hits people really hard, because that's exactly how my favorite team, the Steelers, plays defense.
It's not like everybody has to root for Boise State or anything, but don't use hypocrisy as the basis for your hatred of them.
Okay. Wow. Quite a return, huh? Excuse me for rambling, I tend to repeat myself a lot, especially when I haven't written in a while. And if you're one of these Boise State haters, don't think that I hate you and your opinions about sports or anything. Always remember that I'm friends with a lot of Purdue fans, so it's literally impossible for me to stop liking somebody due to sports-related reasons.
I'll most likely be posting stuff more now, because I actually have stuff to talk about now that 3 of my 5 favorite teams are any good now (with the Pacers remaining to be seen)...as opposed to the one team I had last year. It's always way easier to talk about sports when your teams are good.
Peace, nerds.
P.S. I need a new thing to put at the end of my posts.
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